Debating the Death Penalty -- Resources

Constitutionality
http://www.thisnation.com/question/018.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/27/colorado-death-penalty-ca_n_2773237.html
http://www.aclu.org/capital-punishment/case-against-death-penalty

Arguably pretty objective:

Pew Forum. This website does a nice job of showing both sides of the issue, with an emphasis on some of the recent Supreme Court cases that have involved the death penalty.
http://www.pewforum.org/topics/issues/Death-Penalty/

Has bias, but still reliable sources:

Supports the death penalty:
This is a website that is organized by the lead prosecutor for Clark County, Indiana. This site is very well known and respected for containing a large amount of verifiable data related to the arguments in support of the death penalty.  (there is also a link off of his site that has a list of many additional pro-death penalty sites)
http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/death.htm

Opposes to the death penalty:
American Civil Liberties Union: Clealy opposes the death penalty and has a lot of information to support their point of view.
http://www.aclu.org/capital-punishment

Just cool...
Very cool website for both sides of the argument. This is how others have debated this topic, included the major reasons pro/con and the sources used to support their point of view:
http://idebate.org/debatabase/debates/capital-punishment/house-supports-death-penalty

And, again our grounding website for objective analysis of the issues:  Today, we're going to be looking solely at one website, ProCon.org. This is a pretty fabulous website that focusses on looking at controversial issues by providing both sides as objectively as possible.

• Overall reasons why people are either for or against the Death Penalty

http://deathpenalty.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=002000

• The background on exactly what the Death Penalty is, what qualifies as a crime worthy of the death penalty, where the death penalty is legal, etc.

http://deathpenalty.procon.org/view.subissues.php?issueID=000132

• Some of the specific reasons why people are either for or against the Death Penalty. 

1. Moral and Ethical Issues

2. Legal Considerations

3. Deterrence and Retribution

4. Social Issues

5. Death Penalty vs. Life in Prison

Rubric for Jury

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jcEJlhZdKR4MRyotVoPGAtufq1_RJAfSiupmLBw34-0/edit?usp=sharing

Should the Drinking Age be Lowered?

Link to the Questions from the Jury...

Topic Document for Class -- you have only viewing permission. You need to make your own copy so you can edit.  Please share with me and give me editing privileges...

Groups of 2: Please sit together:

Luke -Megan
Grace - Noam
Rachel -- Harry
Fatima - Sydney
Rachel - Jake
Jasmine - Caroline
Artiom -- Caitlin
Kate - Shamil
Dyllan - Kati
Jake - Enya
Gale -- solo

America's Next Top Issue!

Selected Debate Topic For Period 2, Even day:  Should drinking age be lowered from 21?

Starring, in no particular order:

1. Kati and Enya -- Should animals be used in scientific or commercial testing?
2. Kate and Gale --Is Milk dangerous to humans?
3. Jake and Luke -- Are video games increasing youth violence?
4. Shamil and Noam -- Are video games increasing youth violence?
5. Fatima and Sydney -- Do standardized tests improve education?
6. Dyllan and Harry -- Are video games increasing youth violence?
7. Rachel and Grace -- Is Milk Dangerous to humans?
8. Jasmine and Caroline -- Should drinking age be lowered from 21?
9. Megan and Caitlin -- Should marijuana be used for medical purposes?

America's Next Top Issue!

Starring (in no particular order):

1. Pierce and Christie -- Is Milk Good for humans?

2. Eddie and Sam -- Is Alternate Energy a Viable Alternative to Fossil Fuels?

3. Jojo and Carolyn -- Is the use of standardized testing improving education?

4. Zach and Manav -- Should animal testing be legal?

5. Jonathan and Gus -- Should gay marriage be legal?

6. Taylor and Catherine -- Should driving age be raised?

7. Sergio and Peter -- Do violent video games contribute to youth violence?

8. Jackie and Chloe -- Should the drinking age be lowered?

9. Isabel and Selena -- Do violent video games contribute to youth violence?

10. Elise and Abbie -  Are social networking website good for our society?

Let's debate...you help pick the next topic!

I love this website, http://www.procon.org.   It takes issues that have clearly defined sides and tries to objectively provide various points of view in an organized and reliable way.

Here's what I'm going to ask you to do:

In pairs, you are going to do the following:

1. Spend 15  minutes looking at this site, checking out various topics that interest you.

2. Narrow down to 1 issue that you can agree on being a topic that you think this class would enjoy debating. Consider the following when deciding:
    -- Do you think that the majority of people in the class would find this topic interesting and engaging to learn about and debate?
   -- Do you think that the topic can be understood with some background learning? (you don't want to pick an issue that is too challenging, but just right!)
   --Is this issue a topic that would be appropriate to learn about in school? (I honestly think almost any topic is, but just think about this a little. Some issues might be more appropriate to discuss with family or outside of class.)

3. Create a 30 second-1 minute 'infomercial' to try to convince your classmates that this topic is worth debating. Consider creative word choice, ways of persuading students that this issue is worth discussing, and a unique approach to 'selling' them this topic. (Write down your 'infomercial' details so you can share with the class and perform them by the end of class)



 

We're Debating Today!

The Plan:  15 minutes to get ducks in a row.  Make sure your group has a clear plan of who is opening, who is owning particular reasons/topics, make sure you have specific evidence to bring into the debate, and make sure you have a person tasked with closing the debate (which may not happen until Day 2 of this debate)

Jurors:  Sam, Jackie, Elise, Selena, Isabel